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On Sunday the 2nd March, Russia invaded its neighbour Ukraine, seizing control of the
Crimea peninsula where the majority of Ukrainians are Russian speakers and where some of the
population has been calling for the region to secede from Ukraine.
Events since then have been moving incredibly fast and we don't know about you but we're
having a little trouble trying to keep up. So, we thought we'd give you another update
on what's been going on in the past 24 hours. Today Russia remains fully in control of Crimea
and according to Ukraine at least, has now deployed as many as 16,000 of its troops to
the region. Early this morning two Russian warships could
be seen passing through Turkey's Bosphorous waters on their way to the Crimean port of
Sevastapol, the city where Moscow has long had a naval base.
According to Ukraine, Russia's Black Sea Fleet has trapped Ukrainian navy vessels in the
city, and yesterday was being reported by Russia's Interfax news agency to have given
Ukrainian forces an ultimatum: Surrender by 5 am local time on Tuesday, ie today, or face
military action. This deadline passed without any incidents
however, and a conflicting report from Interfax quoted a Russian official as saying the ultimatum
was "absolute nonsense". Things began to heat up later this morning
however when Russian forces fired shots for the first time. When around 200 unarmed Ukrainian
soldiers began marching towards Russian forces who were guarding the Belbek military airport
near to Sevastopol, the Russian forces fired warning shots in response. After a bit of
a stand-off however, the Ukrainian soldiers returned to their barracks and bizarrely began
a game of football. We also thought it was interesting to note
that since last Wednesday the Russian military has been conducting so-called "exercises"
in western and central parts of Russia, areas that border Ukraine.
Today however, the Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered these troops to return to base,
with his spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying the exercises has been "a success".
However, Russia denies that these "exercises" had anything to do with the situation in Crimea.
So that's what's been going on on the ground, but what's been going on in the war of words?
Well, late last night Russia was continuing to defend its actions, saying that the Ukraine's
ousted leader Viktor Yanukovich remained the country's legitimate president and that he
had asked for Russian military intervention in order to restore law and order.
And at a news conference earlier today Putin continued with these claims, saying that there
has been an "unconstitutional coup" in Ukraine and that Russia "reserved the right to use
all options at its disposal" to protect Ukrainian citizens - including in eastern areas of Ukraine
also. However, Putin also said Russia saw no need
to use military force in any part of the country for the time being.
And as we were making this video, Russia was beginning high-level talks with ministers
from the new Ukrainian government. The European Union, meanwhile, is continuing
to call on Russia to pull all of its troops back to bases.
And there's the United States, which is continuing to prepare potential sanctions for Russia
- apparently to be rolled out within days, not weeks, and seemingly without the support
of the EU. John Kerry, the US' secretary of state, flew
into the Ukrainian capital Kiev today and shortly after landing, announced an economic
package and technical assistance for Ukraine in a "show of support" for the new government.
And in other related news, Abby Martin, a presenter on the American version of the news
channel Russia Today, is being reported to have "gone rogue" last night after ending
her "Breaking the Set" show with these words: "I can't stress enough how strongly I am against
any state intervention in a sovereign nation's affairs. What Russia did is wrong."
You can watch a full clip of what Ms Martin said by clicking on the link appearing on
the screen now. Well that's it for today but we will try and
keep you as updated on the situation in Ukraine as we possibly can. As always, let us know
what you think in the comments below, and we'll see you again next time.